Tel Aviv - Twenty-seven Russian tourists of the 31 evacuated from the scene of a horrific bus accident in Israel late Tuesday afternoon were still in hospital Wednesday morning, Police Spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said.

Two of the injured were pronounced dead on arrival at hospital and two others died shortly afterwards, bringing the death toll in the accident to 24, he said.

All the injured have been transferred from the hospital in Eilat, near the scene of the crash, to medical centres elsewhere in the country.

The accident occurred near the southern Israeli resort city when a bus transporting Russian tourists who had just arrived in the country plunged into a gully along the hilly, winding road next to the Israel-Sinai border.

Witnesses said the accident occurred as the bus, travelling above the speed limit, had tried to overtake another bus on a sharp curve.

Israeli Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz said both drivers had argued over who would be the first to go through a checkpoint, which had led them to race each other.

The driver of the fatal bus, who was seriously injured in the crash, reportedly had over 20 traffic violations on his record.

Israeli President Shimon Peres, who spoke Tuesday evening with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, expressed condolences and said that although the accident was caused by the mistake of one person, "we feel as if this tragedy happened to us." (dpa)